# Adding Blue Painter's Tape to Improve the Humidor Seal



## _LURK_ (Aug 26, 2013)

Is there anyone else who has done this and has had continued success with it and was able to hold humidity? If so, would you mind posting a picture of where you placed the blue tape?


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## abcritt (Jul 20, 2013)

_LURK_ said:


> Is there anyone else who has done this and has had continued success with it and was able to hold humidity? If so, would you mind posting a picture of where you placed the blue tape?


Agreed! Need pictures. I have a humi that is leaking a bit and the whole concept of running painters tape doesn't make sense to me.


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## smknjoecool (Oct 11, 2013)

_LURK_ said:


> Is there anyone else who has done this and has had continued success with it and was able to hold humidity? If so, would you mind posting a picture of where you placed the blue tape?


I am assuming that you would put the tape along the protruding or recessed edge of the side where the leak is. So, if you have a bad seal on the back of your humidor you should put the tape on the edge of the seal along the back of your humidor. Personally, I would just get a replacement humidor with a good seal.


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## Tobias Lutz (Feb 18, 2013)

_LURK_ said:


> Is there anyone else who has done this and has had continued success with it and was able to hold humidity? If so, would you mind posting a picture of where you placed the blue tape?


All mine seal, but this makes perfect sense to me. I would run the tape along the male part of the seal. The painter's variety is a great idea because it shouldn't leave to much residue, even if its on there a long time. Sure, it will look a little odd, but I'm more about function than appearance sometimes. Good luck.


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## Herf N Turf (Dec 31, 2008)

I've been recommending this for years. Indeed, it works brilliantly. The simple reason it has to be blue is that it can be replaced easily and leaves no residue.


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## Emperor Zurg (May 6, 2013)

I've found a better solution is to add a few screws to tighten up the slats.
You can snug them up until the cover just drags when you close it.
You've got to predrill the screw holes though - the wood splits easily.


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## Merovius (Sep 11, 2013)

Off topic, do those HF trays come with magnets?

If not, how did you afix it to your lid?


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## _LURK_ (Aug 26, 2013)

Tobias Lutz said:


> All mine seal, but this makes perfect sense to me. I would run the tape along the male part of the seal. The painter's variety is a great idea because it shouldn't leave to much residue, even if its on there a long time. Sure, it will look a little odd, but I'm more about function than appearance sometimes. Good luck.


Ahhh perfect. This will actually be my second attempt at it. The first time, I just laid the tape down everywhere from the lips, the seals, the glass seals, behind the analog hygro hole, to every corner. The humidity held for a few days then dropped again, so I thought I may have covered too much of the wood for the cedar to help regulate the rh.



smknjoecool said:


> Personally, I would just get a replacement humidor with a good seal.


That'd be the optimal solution, but with all the money I'm spending on cigars, there's hardly any left for a new humidor! lol.



Herf N Turf said:


> I've been recommending this for years. Indeed, it works brilliantly. The simple reason it has to be blue is that it can be replaced easily and leaves no residue.


Yeah blue tape is really a nice solution. After I realized my first go around didn't go so well, I peeled all the tape off and there was no residue or smell or anything left behind.



Emperor Zurg said:


> I've found a better solution is to add a few screws to tighten up the slats.
> You can snug them up until the cover just drags when you close it.
> You've got to predrill the screw holes though - the wood splits easily.


Wow, this would be awesome to do. Maybe sometime in the future when I have a few more humidors, I'll try this out with my current one.



Merovius said:


> Off topic, do those HF trays come with magnets?
> 
> If not, how did you afix it to your lid?


The HF trays, I believe, do come with magnets. The HF puck I have came with a separate magnet that you could attach on if you wanted.


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## smknjoecool (Oct 11, 2013)

I should have added that my advice was based on the premise that your humidor was under warranty. Emperor Zurg's solution looks like a good permanent solution if you don't like the tape. Good luck Arnold!


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## tony (Feb 2, 2008)

Emperor Zurg said:


> I've found a better solution is to add a few screws to tighten up the slats.
> You can snug them up until the cover just drags when you close it.
> You've got to predrill the screw holes though - the wood splits easily.


where did you get that bead holder?


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## Emperor Zurg (May 6, 2013)

tony said:


> where did you get that bead holder?


That's from Heartfelt

Heartfelt Industries, Heartfelt Cigar Humidor Humidity Beads, Heartfelt Beads, Humidors, Quality Cigar Accessories

Scroll down to about half page.


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## JustinThyme (Jun 17, 2013)

I saw the HF rectangular humidifier but passed. I used the plastic ones that came with the humidor, popped them open and filled with beads. While its a nice looking piece I needed two and got three pounds of beads for just a little more, enough for all my needs. The beads are expensive enough but even the pucks are steep for what they are with the little bit of beads that are in them.


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## Dr_Monkey (Jul 9, 2013)

_LURK_ said:


> Is there anyone else who has done this and has had continued success with it and was able to hold humidity? If so, would you mind posting a picture of where you placed the blue tape?


I did this to my humidor last week. Holding steady between 62 to 65. I can post some pictures Friday. Humidor is at work and Thursday is going to be a busy work day for me.


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## _LURK_ (Aug 26, 2013)

Dr_Monkey said:


> I did this to my humidor last week. Holding steady between 62 to 65. I can post some pictures Friday. Humidor is at work and Thursday is going to be a busy work day for me.


That'd be great! Thanks Thomas. I'd love to see how you blue taped your humidor.


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## Cigar5150 (Aug 19, 2013)

Ok, so one of my humidors was consistently reading about 5 to 6 % lower RH than my other two. I tried switching out the hydrometers and I always got the same low reading from the one. I suspected a leak in the seal, so I did the blue tape. I also switched from 70% 50/50 glycol medium to 65% beads at the same time. Over the next three or four days the RH in the one humi has jumped from 61 % to 73%, with basically the same ambient temp..  Amazing. I was wasting so much humidity on leaks. I took out half the beads and I'm waiting for it to stabilize. Now I am going to do the same with my other two since they regularly read 64 or 65% with the 70% solution, and I can see some spots where I suspect gaps. 

I think this method will work well because, over time friction will wear away the tight spots, while the tape will stay intact in the gaps. :thumb:


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## Pasty (Nov 8, 2012)

Glad to hear the success of this method, definitely jumping on the blue tape bandwagon this afternoon.


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## Cigar5150 (Aug 19, 2013)

Pasty said:


> Glad to hear the success of this method, definitely jumping on the blue tape bandwagon this afternoon.


Yeah, I was going to try Emperor Zurg's technique with the screws and drill, but I could just see myself splitting the soft cedar.  If I was that handy I would just build my own cabinet. hwell: Also, that method caused a rather large gap at two corners that I would have had to plug anyway. I cut a triangle of tape to cover the corners and then used pieces of tape that were a little long and made a diagonal cut at the corners to prevent wrinkles. Seals are all very good now.

I guess it's normal to run into this stuff with cheaper humidors. I'll be biting the bullet on something nice this holiday season. :dance:


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## BlueDevil07 (Jun 20, 2013)

I love picking up these tips on the forum threads. I noticed this week that my humidor had dropped from 64-65% RH to 58% RH, even though there were three 65% RH Boveda packs in it and labeled SureSeal (I have two hygrometers inside, both calibrated first with the salt test and then with 65% RH Boveda packs). The outside temps dropped from the mid 70s to the 50s (30s at night) within the past week. I taped up the seals on all my humis today with the blue painter's tape and will check them out in a day or two.


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## baust55 (Sep 8, 2013)

When I bought my 100 stick humidor it leaked a little near one corner . I fixed it buy rubbing some bees wax along the male lip . This did the trick . Now its almost to tight ha


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## Dr_Monkey (Jul 9, 2013)

_LURK_ said:


> That'd be great! Thanks Thomas. I'd love to see how you blue taped your humidor.


Hopefully these upload. Picture of my tape job on the whole lid, then close up of inside and outside corner.


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## Dr_Monkey (Jul 9, 2013)

2nd try to upload pictures.


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## _LURK_ (Aug 26, 2013)

Dr_Monkey said:


> Hopefully these upload. Picture of my tape job on the whole lid, then close up of inside and outside corner.
> 
> View attachment 46456
> View attachment 46457
> View attachment 46458


Thanks for taking the time to post them, Thomas! Glad to hear that's holding up well for you. I'm gonna have to try the same later when I get home.


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## Cyrial23 (Nov 30, 2013)

I just did the blue tape trick after my desktop lost 10% when winter hit. Has anyone done this an noticed that the tape gives off a scent? It's not too strong or chemical, it just smells like the blue painters tape. Is that smell going to ruin my smokes or will it fade?

Zurg - I really like your idea to screw the lips back into the lid. I looked at mine closely and the lip has bowed a bit so there is a very slim gap between the lip and inside wall of the lid. How did you do this? What size screws did you use? I'm a little wary about performing this sort of surgery on my box, but I know that's where the leak is.


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## Cigar-Enthusiast (Feb 2, 2014)

Cyrial23 said:


> I just did the blue tape trick after my desktop lost 10% when winter hit. Has anyone done this an noticed that the tape gives off a scent? It's not too strong or chemical, it just smells like the blue painters tape. Is that smell going to ruin my smokes or will it fade?
> 
> Zurg - I really like your idea to screw the lips back into the lid. I looked at mine closely and the lip has bowed a bit so there is a very slim gap between the lip and inside wall of the lid. How did you do this? What size screws did you use? I'm a little wary about performing this sort of surgery on my box, but I know that's where the leak is.


Have you noticed in smells since putting the tape on the humidor?


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## Ricardo- (Feb 26, 2014)

Emperor Zurg said:


> I've found a better solution is to add a few screws to tighten up the slats.
> You can snug them up until the cover just drags when you close it.
> You've got to predrill the screw holes though - the wood splits easily.


Thanks for the idea. This is the PERFECT solution. I was going to go with the blue tape but then saw this. 12 screws and now the lid is as snug as new...or better!!!!

Great idea, cheap and it works!


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## BlueDevil07 (Jun 20, 2013)

Cigar-Enthusiast said:


> Have you noticed in smells since putting the tape on the humidor?


I did this with my humidor and there hasn't been any off-smell from the tape.


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## Cigar-Enthusiast (Feb 2, 2014)

BlueDevil07 said:


> I did this with my humidor and there hasn't been any off-smell from the tape.


Thanks for the input.


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## Irish_Nick (Jun 17, 2013)

Just found this thread, and thank heavens I did!! Going to grab some blue tape at the big blue store today and seal up the humi tonight! Held at perfect 67% for about a week after I bought it, now almost a year later its got shims and a Black Ice pie in it and it won't get above 57%.


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## MDSPHOTO (Sep 10, 2013)

Irish_Nick said:


> Just found this thread, and thank heavens I did!! Going to grab some blue tape at the big blue store today and seal up the humi tonight! Held at perfect 67% for about a week after I bought it, now almost a year later its got shims and a Black Ice pie in it and it won't get above 57%.


Have you checked your hygro lately? 57% is incredibly low for this time of year in your area.


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## Irish_Nick (Jun 17, 2013)

MDSPHOTO said:


> Have you checked your hygro lately? 57% is incredibly low for this time of year in your area.


I calibrated when winter 'ended', a month ago. Double checked my numbers against how it came from the factory and its still within ± 1%. :frusty:


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## MDSPHOTO (Sep 10, 2013)

Weird, with the humidity on the rise in our area if it was leaking I would think your Rh would be going the other way.


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## Irish_Nick (Jun 17, 2013)

I keep it in my bureau, which is on an interior wall, so its relatively shielded from temp swings, which it maintains fairly well around 70°-72°. The humidity being so low constantly really bugs me. I've got some decent non-CCs in there that I'd like to keep lol!


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